GNOSSIENNE: Kitchen
Fringed pendants, unlacquered brass, and collected ceramics soften the kitchen’s built-ins of the Gnossienne Project. A mirror above the stove offers a quiet, personal touch.
The kitchen of the Gnossienne Project came with the house—already built in, already finished. Which meant that more than any other room, it needed to be humanized. Personalized. Made to feel not just functional, but lived in. It’s easy for a kitchen to slip into lab-like precision; this one needed softness, warmth, and presence.
The homeowner, a ceramicist and a collector, helped shape the space immediately by bringing in her own tableware—pieces with form, story, and hand. Their presence on open shelves instantly shifted the tone. The cabinetry stayed, but the hardware didn’t. Swapping the original pulls for egg knobs in unlacquered brass allowed the space to feel more deliberate, more grounded—ensuring, as the saying goes, that the tail didn’t wag the dog.
Lighting was also rethought. The room had only spotlights when the project began—clinical and overhead. We added wiring to install three fringed pendant lamps from French company Horne above the island, creating a soft visual rhythm and drawing attention down to the surface where life actually happens. Paired with dark wood stools, the island was finally pinned in place—anchored spatially and emotionally.
One final gesture completed the shift: a small mirror, gifted to the homeowner by her mother, now hangs over the hood. Its shape suggests a miniature shrine, its reflective surface catching light and movement like a door into another dimension. It doesn’t announce itself, but it does something essential: it makes the kitchen feel quietly alive.
A runner softens the stone floor beneath the range, while ceramics and unlacquered brass add warmth to the built-in kitchen. The mirror above the hood—a gift from the homeowner’s mother—brings a gentle, reflective moment to the space.